ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how dance education strongly connected to the professional dance community can contribute to positive and meaningful changes in learning for young people in a way that also values the professionalism of the adults around them. It shows what is special about creative partnership and its pedagogies, and how it alters practice for the school and external partners and changes learning in dance for the young people involved. The chapter also considers how the Dance Partners for Creativity (DPC) approach and outcomes might provide "a lifeline to individuals and initiatives which would otherwise tread water in wait for the next wave of supportive policy". The shared understanding of choreographic practice strengthened the common ground between the partners as they worked together using a common spoken and physical language of dance. Dance requires personal exploration and collaboration as integral parts of the choreographic process. The DPC sites provided abundant evidence of pupils working collaboratively as choreographers.
